Beyond their good looks and winter bloom, African violets have another charm. They’re so easy to propagate in the home that they raise your self-esteem. Here’s my foolproof method:
Start with a clay pot. If the pot has been used, soak and brush it clean, removing all rooting media, algae and fertilizer salts from the walls. Fill the dry pot to the rim with a sterile potting medium or seed-starter blend. Do not compress. Next, cover the top of the flowerpot with a...

The return of Venus and Mercury brings us a chance to see all five naked-eye planets

A day past full, Thursday’s moon rises as the sun sets. The bright light to its upper right is Procyon, of the constellation Canis Minor. Higher still is golden Jupiter, the brightest object in the evening sky aside from the sun and moon. A couple nights later on the 18th, the waning gibbous moon rises a few hours after sunset in the company of Regulus, the heart of Leo the lion. Regulus is the bottom point in the Sickle of Leo, a grouping of stars that looks like an inversed question...

For his high school graduation, Jesse (Andrew Jacobs in his screen debut) gets a cool camera and a bite mark on his arm. This bite bestows some interesting powers on Jesse. He can leap great heights, float in midair and throw people across rooms. Jesse thinks he’s becoming a superhero, like Spiderman, and puts his camera to work filming his stunts, then posting them on YouTube.
Alas, Jesse’s powers won’t be making him the hero of a Marvel movie any time...

Thomas Wolfe famously said, “You can’t go home again.” A decade before coining that phrase, he showed us why in his 1929 debut novel Look Homeward Angel. This thinly veiled memoir of a tumultuous youth in his mother’s Dixieland Boardinghouse made him a pariah in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and a literary star to the rest of the nation. The 1958 stage adaptation by Ketti Frings won every major prize for American drama that year, and it still rings true and...

Many theater companies are neither willing nor able to move from a bubbly musical directly into a disturbing death-row drama based on real life. Colonial Players is the exception, following November’s Annie with Coyote on a Fence.
Coyote on a Fence is what Colonial calls an “arc” show, more challenging than usual and typically appealing to a smaller arc of patrons. Opening night proved that this production is deserving of larger, not smaller, audiences....

Lineage, the new year’s first show at the ArtWorks@7th Gallery in North Beach, is telling secrets out of school.
Its painters, photographers and potters are the Southern High School art teachers, joining forces in their first faculty-only show.
On opening day, Southern High School students and alumni swelled attendance. To see their teachers’ other lives, National Art Honor Society vice president Mary Watts joined alumni Cat Allen and Tyler...

If oystering has been your life for more than 40 years, what do you do when age catches up with you?
If you’re Donald Sheckells, you’re still working.
The Shady Side waterman no longer braves winter on the water to harvest oysters. But he’s still shucking and selling them.
Oystering has been his life’s work. So he’s stayed with it in all weathers, from gentle Indian summers to cold, wind-driven, rainy days...

Baby, it’s cold outside. These record low temperatures are hard on all of us, people and pets. Puppies, kittens and shorthaired animals are especially vulnerable in cold weather.
Keep your pets inside except for quick bathroom breaks. Both dogs and cats can get frostbite. Ears, tails and footpads are most susceptible.
Outdoor cats may seek shelter near warm car engines and sleep under the hoods. When the engine starts, the fan belt can injure or...

Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg: 2 Guns), Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch: Savages), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch: Bonnie and Clyde) and Matt Axelson (Ben Foster: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) are proud frogmen. They run long distances at great speeds, push their bodies to their limit for fun and take deadly assignments as part of the job.
The latest mission should be an easy one. Their task is to scout a village in the woods of Afghanistan, positively identify a...

Are your African violets blooming?
If not, read on to learn why and what you can do to bring out the flowers.
African violets’ long-standing popularity grows from lush foliage and their habit of winter flowering. The plants are challenging, but not more than many in-home gardeners can manage. Even propagation is possible with a little knowledge on your part.
African violets are shade-loving plants whose leaves...